Digital screens could be coming to River Walk

Published 10:34 am, Thursday, May 29, 2014

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

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An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 3 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 4 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 5 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 6 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 7 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 8 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 9 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 10 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 11 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 12 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 13 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 14 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

Image 15 of 16

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

An outdoor LED screen is being proposed for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, Courtesy

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Digital screens could be coming to River Walk

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Though digital screens are prohibited on the River Walk, at least one could be in the works for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts should City Council allow it Thursday morning. There are plans to mount a 35-foot-wide LED screen on the backside of the Tobin, overlooking its riverside pocket-amphitheater, to be used for simulcasting performances inside.

If approved by City Council, the change in city law would make a digital screen possible, but the Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, the Tobin's builder, still would have to go through the necessary channels — Zoning Commission and, ultimately, back to City Council — for final approval. To read the agenda item, click here.

The city is recommending the changes to local statutes because of the Tobin, which is scheduled to open in September, said Shanon Shea Miller, the city's historic preservation officer.

"The idea is that performing arts venues are unique, so they present a uniqe circumstance where it makes sense to have something like these where simulcasts can occur," Miller said.

The ordinance's wording applies to performing arts centers — 100,000-square-foot buildings that contain at least 1,500 permanent seats — within District 3 of the River Improvement Overlay, which extends from Lexington Avenue south to César E. Chávez Boulevard. That would include the Tobin, and also the Lila Cockrell Theatre at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.Outdoor monitors, as the agenda points out, are currently prohibited in all RIO districts.

Last week, the Tobin Center's screen was approved by the Historic and Design Review Commission.

According to the proposal, screens must:• Be used only during ticketed events• Not be used for advertising on the premise or off• Comply with the noise ordinance• Not have light intensity stronger than 1,000 nits in the daytime, and 500 nits at night (from sunset to sunrise)• Self-adjust to ambient light

It also limits the size of the screen to the limitations of signs and billboards on the River Walk, for which there is a whole rules matrix outlined in the Unified Development Code.